Category: Blog

Ideation for Innovative Strategies & Problem-Solving [Part 2]

Posted on by annaktaylor
problem solving

 

Part II: Problem-Solving

Talent comes in many forms. One of the most powerful is problem-solving.  It benefits the team (smoother execution), leadership (fewer headaches and distractions), customers (greater service satisfaction) and the bottom line (efficiency reduces costs).

“Problem” is a broad term encompassing an unplanned event, miscommunication, technology jam, team conflict, and trouble in execution. A prominent cause of project failure or delay is the lack of timely, practical, and well-developed solutions to unexpected problems.

People who are skilled in problem-solving have undoubtedly learned from prior experiences. They know how to look at challenges objectively, remove sentiment and emotions from the process, hold themselves fully accountable, and focus solely on a smart solution path.

Insider tip:  Start by changing the word “solve”.  When contending with a problem, replace solve with detection, exploration, modeling, experimentation, and accuracy analysis.

Troubleshooting also requires being unconstrained by allowing others to influence and persuade your thinking.

Continue reading “Ideation for Innovative Strategies & Problem-Solving [Part 2]” →

Ideation for Innovative Strategies & Problem-Solving [Part 1]

Posted on by annaktaylor
innovation-ideation-strategies

 

Part I: Innovation

Global players and a rapidly changing digital landscape are shifting how companies must operate to be profitable and experience sustainable growth.  Markets are saturated with competition. And the internet as well as social media have entirely altered how businesses engage and interact with their customers.

To achieve tangible results, organizations have to be brave by tackling challenges and transforming their traditional tactics.  It’s smart to partner with digital experts and highly creative contractors to guide your team through the actions, techniques, and practices that will drive positive outcomes and measurable change.

Start by telling the team – “We’re breaking out of the status quo.”

Every strategy must have business alignment, engaged team members, and focused execution. Your aim is to position your company to innovate and pursue effective strategies.

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Profile of an Ordering Portal – Key Features & Capabilities

Posted on by annaktaylor
b2b order portal banner for digital commerce

 

Many B2B operators, dealers, and sellers utilize an ordering portal to achieve their business objective. The demand by customers has risen sharply for an easy-to-use, highly intuitive platform with the means to search their product catalog, place and track orders, and manage invoices, payments and account information.

There are a wide range of ordering portal solutions on the market today, claiming to offer an all-in-one user friendly, seamless solution.  Truth is, each B2B entity has unique requirements based on their business model, customer interactions, catalog and pricing structure, and back-end system.

The features of the portal, the size and condition of the data sets, specific customer needs, as well as its technical design, must be the drivers for platform selection. That means starting with the scope of capabilities and catalogs, and complexity of the technology ecosystem.

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Digital Marketing for 2021 – Engagement

Posted on by annaktaylor
digital-engagement-tree

 

Every brand must craft their digital axiom of excellence. Marketing in 2021 demands transformation and overcoming blind spots. Marketers must take an agile approach and embrace center-points of change, best practices in process, and an open lens on audience behaviors.  

As you move into the new year, let’s polish your plan by setting profit-bearing objectives that will gain more attention, penetrate markets, incite actions, increase revenue, and leave your mark on the industry. This 2021 groundwork series starts with:

Engagement

Develop your road map from the following;

  • Breadth and Depth
  • Who, What, Where, How and Why

 

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Innovate, Evolve & Grow Workshop – 3 Day Action Plan

Posted on by annaktaylor
innovate workshop think plan act

 

[Day One]

Refresh the Core Competencies and the Value Proposition

  • distinguish your brand from the competition
  • consider messaging that resonates in the digital ecosystem

Blend your Mission and Vision into a story

  • share socially, on your website, in a video and organically

Assess new and future Macro Conditions – PESTEL

  • Political
  • Economical
  • Social
  • Technological
  • Environmental
  • Legal

Evaluate Supply Chain

  • sourcing goods and services
  • suppliers and procurement
  • production and processes
  • sales and fulfillment
  • inventory management
  • customer satisfaction

Redesign Production for Agility, Ideation and Innovation

  • introduce new ways of thinking and leading for stakeholders
  • recognize that changing mindsets and processes takes time
  • set goals with incremental advancements

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Strategy Tips for Your Technology Playbook

Posted on by annaktaylor
digital services globally

 

Many companies are grappling with the concept of transforming digitally. It certainly sounds smart, recognizing that the world is rapidly becoming digitized in its work, daily activities, commerce and entertainment.

Understandably, for many leaders, the technology landscape appears complex. Extensive. And costly.

The best approach is incremental and experimental. Advancing technologies, and creating a digital-savvy workspace, should be done in a climate that is eager to innovate while still driven to steer pragmatically.

The cutting-edge elements of digital are, first and foremost, not a ‘one size fits all’.  You must craft your own game-changing journey by trying out, testing, exploring and shaping the map.

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Cultivating Digital Relationships and Revenue

Posted on by annaktaylor
digital-marketing-touch points

 

 

Critical for digital commerce are a defined strategy and well-structured plan. Every component of the plan should have a clear objective. That gives all initiatives a North Star and the means to measure results.

Objectives & Key Results (known as OKRs) must be precise and individualized to a particular channel or campaign. Additionally, being quantifiable gives a basis for benchmarks, forecasting and validating performance.

Examples of measurable goals are:

  • New customer acquisition
  • Existing customer retention
  • Conversions
  • Revenue, profit margins or incremental sales
  • Search engine ranking and quality score
  • SEO performance and organic traffic volume
  • Market share, market penetration or new market entry
  • Brand awareness, equity or advocacy
  • Competitive advantage and positioning
  • Audience targeting and personalization
  • Customer journey and UX performance

Gaining attention and visibility online is just the start.  Lead activation, user engagement and triggered activations require an emphasis on brand image, tailored messaging, tactical design, intrinsic interface, and imperative solutions, all with the aim to improve the bottom line.

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Communication Essentials – Intrigue, Elevate, Evoke & Hook

Posted on by annaktaylor
communication channels tree

 

A brand relies on many different methods to get noticed and build trust, engagement and equity.

A sure-fire way to tear down momentum and damage the brand reputation is failing to communicate effectively.

There are numerous factors that make content potent, including the following:

  • Segmented Audience
  • Relevancy and Value
  • Voice and Visual
  • Quality of Content
  • Flow and Patterns
  • Form and Framing
  • Personalization
  • Timing
  • Call to Action
  • Respect for Privacy

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The Merits and Momentum of Cloud Services

Posted on by annaktaylor
cloud-services-in-digital-network

 

A significant element of digital transformation is shifting to serverless cloud computing to leverage services, storage, and processing capabilities. 

Businesses are assessing their technology and recognizing the many advantages of cloud solutions, such as:

  • Cost efficiencies
  • Structural flexibility
  • Cohesiveness of event-driven performance
  • Ease of operational management
  • Real-time data processing
  • Integrated systems and applications
  • Compatibility with different languages
  • Automated scaling
  • Quicker deployment
  • Reliable support for databases, dev/ops, and AI programs

By moving to the cloud, many complexities of a back-end system are removed. Another benefit is eliminating the need to estimate usage. Often, projecting demand can cause unnecessary expenses when reserves and resources are idle.

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Tips for a Profit-Bearing Social Media Program

Posted on by annaktaylor
social-puzzle-icons

 

Social Media has become a key component of business development and brand engagement for companies across industries and of every size. Because business models and objectives are unique, there are logically a wide number of strategies employed to attract attention, create opportunities and connect with the target audience.

While we fully expect social interactions and activities to be different, there are tactics and trends that can benefit all kinds of organizations in pursuit of brand lift and higher profitability.

Tip #1  A Bridge, with no Toll

Use social media as a customer journey bridge.  As you develop touch points and test campaigns, use social platforms as a means to bring people from one interface to the next. A barrage of email reminders or website pop-ups can be annoying, whereas creative social posts that are boosted and shared will have greater appeal. The more visually compelling the better.

Tip #2  Love Thyself, and Social Media

Smart marketing has a foundation of evolving strategies, utilization of influence and persuasion to garner attention, balancing efforts across channels, and continually aiming to strengthen relationships.

The primary value of social media includes:

  • create moments that delight, inspire, inform and engage
  • opportunity to listen to customers
  • build credibility
  • develop a community around your passion and purpose
  • turn customers into advocates
  • expose your brand to new customers
  • offer ease of actions (to shop, to access, to request assistance)

At the start of every week, set tasks that will advance each of these values.  Progress in a brand’s social presence and potency is a measure over time and offers significant long-term gains.

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